09-08-09 Peoria, IL IVY Marina.

[Rick] We began about 0800 travelling with two other loopers (Still Busy and Meander) to the first lock (the sixth on the Illinois River) from Heritage Harbor. HH is a first class marina, and we really liked it, but it was time to move on. We made it to the lock just as the lock was opening, so we had no wait. This is really good, as some people wait 5-6 hours if there is much commercial traffic. The trip to Peoria was 73 miles.

Along the way, we passed several tows, and the had the highlight of the day: we saw Asian Carp jumping. Betsy took some photos and video. They were jumping in our wake. It was incredible. Our friend Jack, aboard Still Busy, saw a teenage boy hit in the face by a carp as they passed the boy and his father fishing in a small boat.

We arrived at the IVY (Illinois Valley Yacht) Marina at about 1430. This is a private club that accepts transients. We get to use all of the facilities, marina, pool, laundry, bar, etc for only $1.00 per foot per night. Quite a deal. We were supposed to be by ourselves, with the other three boats stopping behind us. But, the marina where they were to stop was a dump. So, they called us and we found space for them here at IVY. They came in about 1600.

After everyone, now 4 boats, was tied up and after docktails, we went across the street to a bar and grill for supper. They had a very wide menu and we had a great meal. By 2100, we were all back at our boats, doing whatever.

We plan to stay here for two days. Then, move on down the river. The Illinois River is not particularly pretty. It is very heavy with barge traffic, and while it is better than Lake Michigan, it is a blue highway to get us to the Mississippi and the Tennessee Rivers, and on down to Mobile Bay.

Betsy adds: I think the Illinois River is quite beautiful, and peaceful. Yes, we passed a few barges, but in between them was pure American heartland. We saw many blue heron, a few snowy egrets, and tons of white pelicans. I thought the white pelicans were interesting because we don’t see them in North Carolina. The only time we’ve seen them before was on the Atchafalaya River in Louisiana several years ago. So they must migrate from here to there without stopping on the east coast.

Seeing the jumping Asian Carp was too cool! Our videos may not rival the ones on Youtube, but they do prove we saw them. The other 3 loopers missed seeing them somehow, except the one that hit the boy fishing.

Overall I thought it was a great day. As I rode on the bow (playing my part as hood ornament) I was thinking “this is what the loop is all about…this is what I was expecting and hoping for.”

09-07-09 Heritage Harbor Ottawa, IL

[Rick] It is Labor Day, 2009. A day to sit back and think about all the years we have labored to get to this day. Well, not exactly. I finished washing and waxing the boat along with polishing the rails and cleaning the windows. All was done by lunch, so I could sit back and enjoy the rest of the day. As the day progressed, all of the locals left to go back home and by 1600, the loopers had the marina to ourselves. There are 12 looper boats here today, including the 4 coming in today.

Several of us will be leaving tomorrow, bound for Peoria, IL. Some will stop along the way and spend the night. We have agreed to leave together and go to the first lock together so we have a better chance of getting through. The lock, our sixth on the Illinois River, is the about 10 miles downriver, so it will not take long to get there. Then we will speed up and make Peoria, a trip of 74 miles, by afternoon. We plan to stay in Peoria for at least two nights.

The other highlight of the day was the looper community supper. Everyone brought their supper, along with docktails, to the picnic area at 1800. We sat around, chatted, ate, and ate some more. A good time was had by all. We did a lot of catching up with the 4 boats that came in today.

09-06-09 Heritage Harbor Ottawa, IL

[Rick] We got up bright and early to attend church services at the First Presbyterian Church of Ottawa. It is an older church, and like Sneads Ferry Presbyterian, is very casual. Even the preacher was casual, wearing casual slacks, a shirt and tie. There were about 125 in attendance. From the announcements and commentary, it is pretty obvious that this is a busy church, supporting a missionary effort and many community projects. The message was “Let every creature with a voice, praise the Lord”. Being the first Sunday, communion was served. The normal method was intinction, but due to swine flu concerns, the alternate method of individual small cups and wafers was present and acceptable. They had a fellowship time after the service and today was sundae Sunday, with each person making an ice cream sundae to their liking.

Supper was a cookout with hot dogs and hamburgers. There were several drawings with the proceeds going to charity. There was a 50-50 drawing, but the main fund raiser was a rubber duck race. Five dollars for a duck or twenty-five for a six quack. The ducks were released and the winner received $500, $250 for second, $100 for third and $50 for last place. A cute young girl won the $500. She was very happy.

A note about this very nice marina. Many people keep their boats here in the summer. Since the summer has had such bad weather, and this is the last real weekend of the summer, it is packed. People cooking at the grills, chatting with their neighbors, taking the boat out for a spin. There are probably 500-600 people here including children. There is a separate building with games, TV, etc for the youngsters. Many have pets. So, the marina tries to have some entertainment for the boaters each weekend. Usually it is a band, as it is tonight. All in all, this is a first class, fun marina. The personnel are excellent and seem genuinely interested in pleasing the boaters. The only thing missing from this marina is a laundry facility. I feel sure they will they are held up by the permitting process.

09-05-09 Ottawa, Illinois

Betsy speaks: Sorry we’re late with the blog! Some days we just have nothing to write about…other days we’ve stayed so busy we are just too exhausted at the end of the day to write about it. Saturday fell into that latter category.

We joined fellow loopers Evan and Pookie Davis for lunch at Cracker Barrel – our first time there since leaving home! It was so good to be eating good old southern cooking that we not only ate lunch, but we got supper in take-out bags for later.

Then we ventured to downtown Ottawa, Illinois for a little sightseeing. Ottawa was the site of the first Lincoln-Douglas debate, and was also where good ole Abe practiced law for a short period of time. So naturally there is a very impressive statue in the downtown park commemorating the debate.

This was a beautiful park with a nice war memorial for combined World Wars, Korean War, and Vietnam War. More impressive, however, was the memorial to the Civil War dead from this area. It was a very tall obelisk on which hundreds of names had been carved. But over the past 150 years those names had been so worn down by the elements that they were no longer legible, similar to a very old grave stone. The monument was “rededicated” in 2006. Each of the 810 names that were on the original monument are now clearly legible on the six or eight flat granite markers that now surround the monument.

A few blocks away is another very small park that has a wonderful artsy display of metallic “stove pipe hats” all colorfully painted. The images are patriotic, and many of them have Abe Lincoln quotes. Wow, what a wonderful speaker he was! I read every word of every quote. Scattered throughout the downtown are marvelous murals on the sides of buildings. We’ve been to several towns on this trip that have downtown murals, but I think these were the most impressive we’ve seen.
We were expecting at least two more looper boats to join us at Heritage Harbor Marina before the day was over. When they were not yet at the marina when we returned we thought maybe they had been held up somewhere along the way. They finally showed up as we were eating our Cracker Barrel takeout, after 6PM. Sure enough, they had to wait through a couple of lock cycles. With this being a holiday weekend, combined with the bottleneck at the “safety zone” just a few miles upstream, the river is very congested. Anyway, we were glad to be joined by friends Jack and Pia on “Still Busy” and Ron and Marji on “Meander.”

Let’s back up a day. Those two boats had been towed through the safety zone on Friday morning. Prior to Friday, boats that were towed through were towed one at a time, cost $600 each. On Friday, the powers that be decided it was OK to tow boats through two at a time, one on each side of the barge. I wish we had been there to see Pia try to talk the barge captain into charging them only $300 each since they were coming through together. Pia is Finnish, and she is a pistol! Petite, very pretty and very self assured, I can just see her using her charm to save $300. But it didn’t work, so the towing company is now making $1,200 for about 15 minutes of work!

The marina we are in now is very nice, and they have bands and activities every weekend for the folks that are here. The band that was supposed to play tonight didn’t show up, so they had to come up with some other activity. They have a children’s activity building here, so they “borrowed” the two Wiis from the children’s center and set up a Wii Bowling Tournament last night. It was a blast. Rick and I along with Pia (a Finnish Gold Medalist in Bowling in her younger days) all joined up to play. After watching the fun, Ron also filled in to complete a team later in the evening. There were 9 teams of 4 bowlers each. What fun we had!! The team Pia was on ended up winning the overall team competition so she won $45.

Below, Ron and Marji, Rick, and Jack watch Pia's form! None of us had done much Wii before (I’ve done just a little, the others none at all). We were all so surprised at how realistic it is! Just like being in a bowling alley…great fun! Rick was proud of his 176 after not bowling for nearly 20 years! I had a measley 135.

By the way, this is the marina that became “famous” to last season’s loopers, collectively known as the “River Rats.” When the Illinois River was closed last year due to flooding, many loopers were stranded here for several weeks. There is a mark on one of the pilings supporting the floating docks showing how high the water was. It is amazing to see how high it was, and boy were those people lucky these are floating docks! Pictures below show Rick on dock pointing to red mark, then a close up showing how near the red mark is to the top of the post…about a foot from the top. Glad we missed out on that excitement...being Carp Captives has been exciting enough!

It was well past our bedtime when we returned to the boat, and we planned to get up early the next morning for church at 9:30, so that’s why this blog is a day late!

09-04-09 Ottawa, IL Heritage Harbor Marina

We made no attempt to get up early and get underway from Spring Brook Marina as the next stop is to be Heritage Harbor, a mere 10 miles away. Spring Brook is the 33rd largest marina in the US and is the dealer for Marquis, Carver, Sea Ray, and other models. The yard is huge. The river was pretty as we left.

We passed through the Marseilles Lock. This one was interesting in that the fall was 23 feet and the lock supplied lines to hold on while you went down. Luckily, we arrived just in time to go through, as some boats wait hours to go through. Keep in mind that recreational vessels have the lowest priority to go through the lock, with commercial the highest priority. Sometime, it takes a tow boat 2 hours to go through the lock. This was lock 78 on the trip, with about 40 more to go.

We locked through with a large catamaran. We found that we had met the people on it in Little Current. It is a 44 ft Endeavour and would be a dream boat to do the loop or to live aboard.

We arrived at Heritage Harbor about 1130. This will one day be a great development with houses, condos, etc., but for now, just the marina is complete. The marina is great, nice floating docks; pump out at each slip, very high speed wifi, and restaurant on site. It is managed by a man, Capt Moe, who did the loop in 2004-2005. The charge for loopers is only $1.25 per foot. The marina supplies a courtesy car since the town is about 4 miles away. We went to Wal-Mart and stocked up.

Several of our friends arrived later in the day, having been through the carpal tunnel and paying the $600. More will arrive tomorrow, as most of us wait out the Labor Day weekend. The marina is to have a huge picnic with live music on Sunday Night. We can’t wait.

We heard a strange clicking sound on the dock. It turned out to be a fish eating the algae and scum off the floating dock. He was sideways, working his way down the dock, eating away and making the noise.

Since this is a new month, some of you will be interested in statistics. These can be found on the www.betsyrick.com webpage under the Log Book Tab on the left side of the page. Just look at the top of page 1.

09-03-09 Seneca, IL (What a great Day)

[Rick] What do you call a day that gets you past the Carpel Tunnel, bypass 2 locks, pass the port of Joliet, IL and the commercial traffic, does not involve the US Coast Guard, and does not cost $600 for the tow boat to take you 0.7 miles, with a risk of blowing up. I call that September 3, 2009, a great day!

We said goodbye to the Marine Service Corp Marina, where we took over the working dock. After 6 nights, we looked more like the Clampetts than ever!



We also said adios to all our looper friends who are captives of the carpel tunnel. Most are making plans to leave tomorrow or Saturday. The Coast Guard is to issue some type of statement on Friday, but it has little chance to just open the river. More likely is to continue to have boats towed through. There is a chance they will CLOSE the river permanently, but this seems unlikely. There is also the slight possibility that they will not let gas powered boats through even if towed, so two other looper boats that are gas powered are especially anxious to get through before that possibility becomes reality. This is Jack and Pia from Charlotte, NC.





You will recall that Glenn, a resident of this area, has a Glacier Bay boat and more importantly, a trailer. He called several days ago and volunteered his trailer and tow vehicle, a Lincoln truck, to portage us around the carpel tunnel. Today was the day. Glenn met us about 10 miles down the Cal-Sag Canal, loaded the boat, and took us to Morris, IL, approximately 50 miles via interstate much of the way, for launching. At this point, I tried to pay Glenn for his efforts, but he would not take a penny. We asked for his favorite charity, so we could make a donation. We finally settled on a sweatshirt from North Carolina when we get back home.

Glenn went back home, and we continued down the river 10 miles to Seneca, IL and the Spring Brook Marina. Very pretty marina. No Wi-Fi, but they have cable TV, so not too bad. Later we received an e-mail (we used our air card to access the internet) from Glenn, telling us that he was home, no problems, and wishing us safe travels down the river. Tomorrow, we go through a lock on our way to Heritage Harbor Marina in Ottawa, IL, where we will stay over Labor Day to avoid the holiday crazies.

Betsy adds: How can we ever thank Glenn? What a Good Samaritan! He just happened to read the Glacier Bay user’s forum on the right day, after not having read it for months! In spite of his protestations, we do intend to make a donation in his honor to charity…if any of Glenn’s friends are reading this, please let us know of a cause that would be appropriate!

But here’s the MOST incredible thing that happened today: Beamer the psycho dog hopped in the back seat of Glenn’s truck, settled down on the floor, and never made a sound for the 50 miles he took us!!! This is incredible for Beamer! She was the perfect passenger. She will be 10 years old in about a week, so maybe she is starting to show her age! As soon as she got out of the truck, she did give him a little growl, but by then he was so impressed by her behavior it didn’t matter.

I look forward now to weeks and weeks of stress free boating!

09-01-09 Marine Services Corp., Dolton, IL

[Betsy] We think we have great news…read on!

We’re still sitting here on the Little Calumet River waiting for news of the Asian Carp closure of the Illinois River, just a few miles from where we are. We are now collectively known as the “carp captives” waiting to go through the “carpel tunnel.” After having the marina to ourselves for the past couple of days, today several of our looper friends joined us here to wait. “Pookie II” and “Riff Raff” pulled in around lunchtime. Jack and Pia on “Still Busy” arrived late this afternoon after going home to North Carolina for a couple of weeks…they had stored their boat here while gone. Two other looper boats that we hadn’t met before also came in today.

Both of the loopers that we hadn’t met before are planning to leave tomorrow or the next day and pay the $600 to be towed. The rest of us were still undecided, but leaning toward waiting until after the Coast Guard makes their decision on Friday as to whether or not we can go through on our own steam. Rick and I had decided that rather than pay $600 to the tow company, we would pay nearly that same amount to this marina to be put on a trailer and hauled around by land if the Coast Guard’s decision was unfavorable. Everyone feels the tow company is gouging us with the price and we’ll do anything to keep from paying them…though we don’t mind paying someone else!

Then just a few minutes ago we were sitting here watching TV and Rick’s phone rang. There is a Glacier Bay owner that lives very close to one of public boat ramps on the Calumet River, just a few miles from here. He has offered to meet us at that ramp Thursday afternoon, and take us to Joliet, IL, the first town past the closure. Total trip will be at most 30 miles over land. He is supposed to call back tomorrow to firm up the plan. His boat is the same make, although at different model, and same length as ours, so his trailer should be perfect.

Rick had posted our plight on the Glacier Bay user’s forum several days ago, and in fact had talked to the folks at Glacier Bay trying to find someone nearby with a trailer that would be able to help us. The guy that called tonight just happened to read the forum this afternoon for the first time in several months and saw Rick’s post.

So keep your fingers crossed that this will work out. Our stay here has been very relaxing and productive…we think we’ve solved our overhead leak problem, and we had a bilge pump replaced. Beamer finally had a bath and a haircut. But there’s nothing to do here and we’re ready to move on!